The Dickinson press., 1887-06-18
MORE OR LESS srKA~ry;y.
"Thesc girls We're then 'orced 10 stay

II mere was always IL 4" u: les strategy
used and they general, onscMt, 4 'p .cmain
until the ship rcturnec. Thru., the over
lures of the chief and the ;;s /. ',,icc that
everything the country afforded v',,ili be at
their command, and partly t!,ru,lgh the
threats Of the captain and his promises to re-
turn, they generally remained, seemingly con-
tent TO wait for our return, hut always waited
in vain. We would make up our load of
slaves, turning certain number of them in
each evening and storing them securely in the
hold, and, by repeating this each day, we
would with the chiefs help, soon get as many
MS VIC cared to sail with. They were never
ol'strcpcrous and seemed perfectly content rs
long as they got plenty to cat, and were joy
Gus i'll their bnrhuric conversations i'll the
ships hold. Occasionally one would die, and
We would throw him intn the sea, and then
the others would make strange motions. 1
think they worshipcd the sun and moon
when in their own country"
Sand could you get ship load of negroes
for two servant girls.'
'Nes, sir; that's what we did. Of course,
there We're more or less trnkcts given, but we
never hoped to accomplish anything until we
hal made peace with the chief of the tribe.
and this coul'l most always be done with two
! girls. We never left more than three with
the head oil tribe.
What kind of slaves did you prefer to
bring!"
ave always picked up the young bucks
say from Ii to 90 years old. We also brought
n number of females about the same age We
frequently brought them all Iii, on deck, but
when n storm canlc they would drop back to
the hold i'll an instant ut the wave of n white
hand. They We're cbc,rnt, and I never
1:On1y tp in fol
| wise"
"What report would you give OH yo IL re-
turn of those girls who W mt out with you!"
THEY LEARNED rl1E TRUTH.
"Ihey were, as rule, never inquired after,
but OH one occasion girl whom we left hap
pened to belong to a pretty good family, and
when we returned to New Orleans her friends
We're on hand to meet her, and when she did
not appear they lesouSht the captain eagerly
as to what had become of her He informed
them that sho had preferred to remain in the
sunny land until the good shiprcturned. This
did not at all satisfy them, and they pushed
their inquiries day and night until they
learned the TRUTH and Capt johnson (for
this was his name) was i'll danger of being
mobbed, when he quietly set sail one evening
and passed down the river and out through
the gulf, and l never heard of him after
ward"
"Then you did not return to Africa?"
"No; it was just at t:is time that had an
offer to take charge of an engine on the first
steamboat ever run on the lower Nississppi.
and accepted it."
"When you were in the slave trade did you
ever return to the place from where you Sc
cured your previous cargo?'
0NO indeed. JyOu1u olwavs rro to so,,o
other point, but we heard afterward that the
girls left there did much good for the natives,
teaching them to sew, cook and work"
"Did the Africans have any idea at the time
that they were being sold into slavery?'
"Not the slightest They thought from the
signs that had been made to them that they
were coming to place where all was lovely;
where the sun slonc bright and the moon
looked larger, and to eat tropical fruit would
be their chief employment. Sad, indeed, must
they have felt when they negan to realize that
they had been sold into slavery, from which
it was as impossible for them to cxtricate
themselves as it would bc to change the colo,
of their own skim"
"How many did you bring 10 Anerics
in all?"
81 kept no record of this myself, but or
one occasion | remember we'll VIC had one
thousand on board, and we landed then
safely i'll New Orleans. They were all sold i,
S less than a week. Wo brought six ship loads
. over during the three years was with tn,
ship, and l suppose the total number woult
! be at least 1000"
S "Wherc were they kept in New Orlean
: until they wero soldl"
y "They were taken to what was known a
c the negro pen, which was an inclosure whcr
j n large shed was built. In this incosur
: were cots of straw, and they slept there unit
8 they were driven off by their new masters t.
II the cotton and sugar plantations, from whcl
many of them were never released unit
p death.-St. Louis Republican